Heart Health

Failing hearts linked to broken bones

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Although heart failure seems to have little in common with broken bones, accumulating evidence suggests they are somehow tied to each other.

How might these two dissimilar conditions be related? One possibility is that the metabolic derangements that cause bones to thin might also cause the heart to weaken, or vice versa. Frailty may also play a role, suggested by the fact that broken hips (which are usually caused by falls) predominated over vertebral fractures (broken bones in the spine), which are more closely related to osteoporosis.

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